How To Wrap A Gift

So you might be thinking wow Rina...this post might be more suited towards the Christmas season, not the summer season!

Except that summer season is the prime wedding season. And weddings usually involve gifts, right? Not to mention there's always a birthday or anniversary gift to package!

In any case, I know that I'm always having some sort of trouble when wrapping gifts so when I saw this tutorial in one of my free magazine subscriptions I knew I wanted to share it with you, as well as preserve it for my use too!!

So first step is to find a box for the gift. Wrapping an oddly shaped item or heck, even just trying to wrap something simple like a mixing bowl can be difficult but! Put that item into a box and suddenly your task is way, way easier. Got a box? Oh! Grab some double sided tape, too. Okay. Let's get wrapping.

Step 1:
Lay the boxed item face down on top of your chosen gift wrap, leaving the paper attached to the roll. Cut the wrapping paper along one side, ensuring you cut a wide enough sheet to cover both sides of the box.


Step 2:
Stand on the same side of the table as the roll of gift wrap and pull the paper snugly up and over the far end of the box. Affix with double sided tape and crease the paper along the edge of the box.

Step 3:
Unroll the gift wrap and bring it to meet the already wrapped portion of the box. Cut paper from roll, and leave about and inch of overhang. Fold that inch under and crease along the fold. Affix using double sided tape.


Step 4:
Concentrate on one of the open ends of the box. Push the sides of the paper in towards the box, creating four 45 degree angle flaps. Crease along each flap.


Step 5:
Fold down the top flap. Crease quite sharply along the top of the box and crease again where the gift wrap meets the bottom edge of the box. If you'd like, trim the paper along that bottom crease. Affix to the box with double sided tape.

Step 6:
Fold under any excess gift wrap on the bottom flap so it lines up neatly with the top of the box. Affix double sided tape to the bottom flap, then fold over the top flap and adhere.

Step 7:
Repeat Steps 4-6 on the other end of the box. Finish by running your pinched thumb and forefinger along the edges to create sharp lines.


Ta da! Stand back and give yourself a hand - seriously though, how professional does that look?!? If you'd like, you can attach ribbon or some other sort of decoration but I'm fairly plain and simple so I'd typically just add a card or note of some kind to indicate who the gift is for, plus a few personal lines to the receiver.

I'm Rina and I usually blog over at Gotta Little Space - come say hi!!

Carnival #178 - Summer Garden Chicken

Welcome to the carnival! The Make it from Scratch carnival is your chance to share your projects. I hope you join us by linking up at the bottom of this post.

 
 My garden is at a point right now where everything is producing, but nothing is producing quite enough to can or freeze. This leaves me with a refrigerator full of a variety of fresh vegetables, and calls for a little creativity to be sure that none of that fresh from the garden goodness goes to waste. Stir fry is a good way to use up a variety of vegetables. So are soups and casseroles, but those really aren't all that appealing to me in the humid 90+ degree heat we've been having.

Inspired by the Campfire Chicken at Cracker Barrel, I decided to try what I'm calling Summer Garden Chicken. Truly, it is only a chicken, a bunch of vegetables, and a little spice. It is my favorite kind of "recipe" (if you can call what I'm about to give you a recipe,) one that is very flexible to suit your tastes, and uses up what you have on hand.

Summer Garden Chicken
A whole chicken
Vegetables, cleaned and cut into pieces
Salt, pepper, red pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rinse chicken and  place in the middle of a 9x13 pan. Put vegetables in around the chicken. sprinkle everything with salt and peppers. Cover tightly and bake for one hour or until the chicken is done. 

To save heating up the house, this dish could easily be done in the crockpot. It would also work well on the grill. My grill has temperature control issues right now, so I've only tried this in the oven. I used garlic, onion, green pepper, tomato, potato, carrot, eggplant, corn, and green beans in the meal pictured above.

What are some of your favorite ways to use up odds and ends vegetables?


Stephanie is a mom, homeschooler, homesteader in the hills of West Virginia. Find more of her adventures at Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood.  



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Link up your recipes, crafts, garden projects, yarn creations, home improvement, or other d-i-y posts. Posts about making something, or helpful resources and tips for making things are what we are all about.


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Stuffed Pattypan Squash

I've been getting a lot of pattypans from my farm share lately and have been trying to figure out a way to use them. You could stuff just about anything in these but here's what I did. Try this and see what you think.

• 6 pattypan squash, stem and blossom removed
• olive oil
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 3 cloves garlic, diced
• 1 cup sprouted mung beans
• 3 sun dried tomatoes, diced
• 1 Tablespoon capers, chopped
• 1 cup diced mushrooms
• 1 1/2 cups prepared bulgher wheat
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Bring one inch of water to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add squash, cover, and cook for 10 minutes, or until a fork can pierce the stem with little resistance. Drain, and slice off the top stem of the squash. Use a melon baller to carefully scoop out the centers of the squash. Reserve all of the bits of squash.
3. Saute onion in olive oil. Add garlic, saute for 1 minute or until fragrant, add mung beans and sun dried tomatoes.  Saute for a few minutes, add mushrooms, saute until they give up their water, add capers and heat through.  Add bulgher wheat and heat through.
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stuff each squash to overflowing with the mixture, and place them in a baking dish. Cover the dish loosely with aluminum foil.
5. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until squash are heated through.

This recipe is easy to scale up or down. If you're cooking for one, try one or two of these in the toaster oven.

Do you have a good use for pattypan squash? I'd love to know about it!

Yummy Tuna Cups – Easy Kid-Friendly Party Food

Trying to feed the four fellas nutritious meals isn’t tough. The tough part is keeping things interesting both visually and in flavor. Most kids love tuna fish sandwiches but how boring! It’s just two slices of bread with some tuna smeared in the middle. We eat with our eyes, kids more so than adults. If you have a kiddo that’s not crazy about tuna, egg salad, or pimento cheese or any other sandwich filler you might try presenting it in a toasted cup. 

Making a toasted cup takes ZERO culinary skills but offers high visual impact. Perfect when your trying to win over a little one with a new creation. It’s also the perfect handy food for summer picnics and parties!

Simply cut the crust off your favorite sliced bread and roll flat with a rolling pin (or the heal of your hand). Cram form the flattened bread into the cup of a cupcake tin by pressing the bread carefully but firmly to conform to the tin. Bake them on the middle rack of a 350 degree oven for approximately 10 minutes or until the edges are toasted brown and the base of the cup is no longer soft.

I filled these little delights with tuna. I drained two cans of chunk light tuna and gently folded in about 1/2 cup of mayo, a heavy squirt of mustard, 1 clove of garlic finely minced, a heavy pinch of salt, a tablespoon of lemon juice and about a dozen diced bread n’ butter pickles. Garnish with a sliced pickle and serve with a fresh fruit salad for a fabulously tasty and healthy lunch. (This made 10 cups.)

 

BTW-These tuna cups converted the only one of the four fellas who “didn’t eat” tuna. Now he loves it!

How do you get the kiddos to eat something they usually “don’t eat”???

Jenn is a stay at home southern mom raising her kids in Northwestern Minnesota with her trucker hubby. She loves to cook, craft and blog. Soon she’ll be going back to school for a new adventure in Graphic Design. You can find recipes, crafts, parenting strategies, budget tips, product reviews and fabulous giveaways on her blog, Frugal Front Porch.

Carnival #177 - Hot Pepper Jam

Welcome to the carnival! The Make it from Scratch carnival is your chance to share your projects. I hope you join us by linking up at the bottom of this post.

I remember the first time I encountered hot pepper jam. It was at a Tastefully Simple party, and the whole notion of hot peppers in a jam seemed completely foreign to me. Yet, when they served some of this jam over a block of cream cheese with crackers, I knew I had to try it. It was a surprisingly delightful experience. I have been a fan of pepper jam ever since.

So, when I began growing my own hot peppers, I knew just what I wanted to make with them. This recipe is adapted from the hot pepper relish recipe included in the Sure-Jell package.

1 package Sure-Jell
5 C sugar
1 C cider vinegar
4 C finely chopped peppers. (The recipe called for a mix green, red and jalapeño. I used only hot peppers. About 3 C jalapeño and 1 C banana peppers.)

Mix peppers, cider and Sure-Jell in a saucepan. Measure sugar out into a separate bowl. Bring pepper mixture to a full boil on high heat. Stir in sugar. Bring back to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Stir constantly. Ladle into hot jars. Boiling water process for ten minutes. Yield: 4 pints.

Some tips: Wear plastic gloves when working with the hot peppers. Seed and remove the membranes of the peppers if you don't like a lot of heat. The jam made with all the seeds and membranes removed has a wonderful flavor, but hardly any heat. Leave a few seeds to kick it up a bit.

Uses: Pepper jam is great poured over a block of softened cream cheese and served with crackers. It can be used on sandwiches like relish, or as a dipping sauce. I think it would be delicious over chicken too.

Stephanie is a mom, homeschooler, homesteader in the hills of West Virginia. Find more of her adventures at Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood.

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Link up your recipes, crafts, garden projects, yarn creations, home improvement, or other d-i-y posts. Posts about making something, or helpful resources and tips for making things are what we are all about.


Please link directly to the post, not to home page of your blog. Kindly link back to the carnival with twitter, stumble and/or from your blog.

Saucy Ginger Orange Turkey Tenders

I found a turkey breast on sale at the grocery store for a heck of a deal last month. Feeding the four fellas can easily break the bank so I look for deals EVERYWHERE on a variety of products. I don’t normally make turkey since I often associate it with the holidays. Since it’s not the “right season” for turkey I was in the mood for something light and tasty. After some pondering I came up with a great way to prepare the turkey completely different from my traditional basting/baking method.

First I carefully removed the turkey breast from the breast bone. This left me with two large breasts. I put one in the fridge and the other was sliced into turkey tenders.

In a separate bowl I poured a cup of orange juice (I had a little left in the fridge) and mixed in a squeeze of lemon juice, a pinch of salt, a tablespoon of ground ginger and a palm full of garlic powder. I allow the turkey tenders to marinate in the orange saucy goodness for at least 30 minutes.

Over medium heat, pour about a tablespoon of EVOO into a sauté pan and pan fry the turkey tenders a few minutes on each side. Reduce the heat to medium low. Pour the gingered OJ into the pan with all the turkey tenders and allow the sauce to reduce while ensuring the turkey tenders are cooked through.

When the sauce is thick and bubbly, remove from heat and allow to cool for about 5 minutes. Serve and enjoy! The kiddos loved it and half a turkey breast fed the five of us!!! Not a bad deal!

Jenn is a stay at home southern mom raising her kids in Northwestern Minnesota with her trucker hubby. She loves to cook, craft and blog. Soon she’ll be going back to school for a new adventure in Graphic Design. You can find recipes, crafts, parenting strategies, budget tips, product reviews and fabulous giveaways on her blog, Frugal Front Porch.

Friendship Bracelets

So, how's summer going for you? Kids bored yet? Watching a lot of TV and hearing a lot of "There's nothing to doooo!"? I actually don't know what that's like - yet. Thankfully. I'm hoping that I'll be one of those 'cool Moms' that always has a cool game idea or a fun thing to do up my sleeve. Or a craft. Hopefully.

Like friendship bracelets!


Ok I'll admit it. When I saw the picture of these friendship bracelets in the latest Parents magazine, I never intended to post about them. I just remember making them when I was a kid and wanted to make them again. For myself. Oy vey.

You'll want to make them too, whether it's with the kids or without. I made two of them, lickety-split, earlier this week. And then I made four more including an anklet. I'm certifiably insane. My husband is even wearing one - and admitted to me last night that he likes it, and has been asked about it by all of his male coworkers. Because they like it too.

Supplies needed are three different colors of embroidery floss and a bit of tape.

Cut about a two foot long piece of each string and tie them together with a basic knot at one end; leave a bit of a 'tail' so you'll be able to tie the two ends together later. Tape the 'tail' to a surface (table, desk, etc).

Take one of the strings and knot it around the other two. Repeat nine more times and then switch to the second and then third colors, making ten knots with each. You may need to twirl the whole thing occasionally to keep the knots flowing in a tidy curve.

Continue until the bracelet is long enough for the wrist it's going on, knot the end and tie it around the wrist. Trim excess string.

Make sense? I hope so - if not, let me know in the comments and I'll take step by step pictures. It took me a few tries before the bracelet making skills of my youth came back to me, heehee.

Happy summer!!

Carnival #176

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Link up your recipes, crafts, garden projects, yarn creations, home improvement, or other d-i-y posts. Posts about making something, or helpful resources and tips for making things are what we are all about.


Please link directly to the post, not to home page of your blog. Kindly link back to the carnival with twitter, stumble and/or from your blog.

An Uber-Easy Homemade Photographic Reflector

So in my quest to improve my blogging, I've decided it would help if I improved my photography. And you can't imagine the resources there are out there. I've been poring over websites, blogs, forums and books and have learned some amazingly simple tricks that can improve anybody's photography, regardless of whether or not you have the new Nikon D90. (But it's still on my wish list!)

One tip I recently learned from Digital Photography School dot com
is how effective a reflector can be when doing portrait photography. If a subject is standing under open shade or out in the open on a cloudy day, having a reflector behind the camera can really do wonders. At DPS I learned that one can make a reflector out of white foam board and have someone stand behind and to the side of the camera to reflect a gentle light onto the subject.

Now, if you think that's easy, listen to the newest tip I learned. When reading one woman's blog post about how to photograph newborns, she says that she always wears a white t-shirt and becomes her own reflector! How simple is that! Actually, I couldn't believe it was so simple, so I tried it. Here's what I did...

Take a look at this "before" photo of my daughter standing outside on a cloudy day in California...



(Sorry about the slight camera-shake. I think one of the 2-year-old twins bumped me while I was taking this shot.)

This is a lovely photo, but there are light shadows cast under her cheeks and nose. Now, look what happens when I have two of my sons, who just happen to be wearing their white button-down church shirts, stand on either side of me...



Do you see how there is more gentle light more evenly dispersed on her face? I was truly amazed that this really worked!

Another benefit of having a simply-made reflector is that the catch lighting in the eye improves, you know, those little spots of light that make a subject look alive! The difference is subtle, but if you look at her eyes in both portraits, you'll see that the catch lights are more pronounced in the one taken with the "reflectors".

So what do you think? Have you ever tried this or something like it? I'd love to hear about it. Thanks for listening.

This post is a contribution by Jen at 11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven.

Spaghetti for Dinner? Kid Friendly Remixes

With the Four Fellas always hungry, sometimes I find it difficult to keep meal time healthy and interesting both visually and with taste. Spaghetti is always popular in our house and there’s plenty of variations to keep mealtime lively. I use whole wheat pasta and the kids haven’t noticed any difference. I’ve also noticed they are full on smaller quantities so I spend less on pasta at the grocery ~ double whammy win!

…But what to do with the leftovers? Personally, I’m not big on spaghetti leftovers. It’s one of those things from my childhood, I suppose. My mom’s spaghetti was fine the first time around but terribly DRY the second time!!!! I HATE dry sketi so I go the extra mile to make sure my sketi is just as tasty the second time as it was the first time.

Spaghetti Nachos/Tacos

  Occasionally it’s the simplest of combinations that make for an exciting dinner. I took my inspiration from iCarly with our creation of Spaghetti Tacos and Spaghetti Nachos. I had extra nachos and taco shells from Mexi-night but didn’t have any more Mexi-ingredients. I didn’t want either to go bad so I combined them for a fun dinner night that saved money and fed the masses! lol

Tip: Wrap your spaghetti taco like a burrito to keep the noodly goodness from falling out of the bottom!!! ;D

Spaghetti Sandwiches

Simply toast some bread, preferably whole wheat, add a slice of cheese and top with cooked spaghetti mixed already mixed with sauce. Add a top piece of toasted bread and pop either in the oven or the microwave long enough to melt the cheese. Cut your spaghetti-wich in a diagonal and serve with some healthy grapes for a nutritious lunch.

Next time we have left over spaghetti, I want to try making spaghetti pie! From what I remember about the recipe I saw, simply spray a pie pan with nonstick spray, toss in some left over sketti, pack it down with a spoon and bake till the edges get crispy. I’ll have to find the exact recipe to make sure that’s all there is to it but if anyone has one, I’d love to try it.

What are your favorite recipe remixes???

Jenn is a stay at home southern mom raising her kids in Northwestern Minnesota with her trucker hubby. She loves to cook, craft and blog. Soon she’ll be going back to school for a new adventure in Graphic Design. You can find recipes, crafts, parenting strategies, budget tips, product reviews and fabulous giveaways on her blog, Frugal Front Porch.

Carnival #175 - Freezer Cucumbers

Welcome to the carnival! The Make it from Scratch carnival is your chance to share your projects. I hope you join us by linking up at the bottom of this post.

Mmmm cucumbers, fresh, cool, delicious, and at this time of year, abundant. If you planted cucumbers this year, you are likely harvesting them by the dozen. If you don't garden, your local farmers market is the place to go to enjoy the bounty of the season.

Cucumbers are wonderful in so many ways, but there is a limit to how many you can eat fresh. While these beauties are in abundance, it is time to preserve some of them to enjoy through the rest of the year. One of my favorite ways to do that is by making Freezer Cucumbers.

I was a little leery of this recipe when it was first given to me. I adore a good garlic dill pickle, but normally am not too fond of other pickle flavors, and the whole idea of a frozen cucumber seemed odd to me. That summer though, I was literally swimming in cucumbers, and willing to give almost anything a try. I am so glad that I did.

This recipe produces a light tasty side dish that I enjoy year around. The cucumbers are not super sweet, and they retain more of that summer cool crisp than a pickled cucumber. I often take these to potlucks, and almost always return home with an empty bowl.

Freezer Cucumbers
2 quart sliced cucumbers
2 TB salt
3 medium onions sliced
Mix and let stand 2 hours. Then rinse thoroughly.
1 1/2 C Sugar
1/2 C vinegar
Heat enough to dissolve sugar. Add 1 tsp. celery seed. Cool, pour over cucumber mixture and freeze.


Stephanie is a mom, homeschooler, homesteader in the hills of West Virginia. Find more of her adventures at Adventures in the 100 Acre Wood.

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Link up your recipes, crafts, garden projects, yarn creations, home improvement, or other d-i-y posts. Posts about making something, or helpful resources and tips for making things are what we are all about.


Please link directly to the post, not to home page of your blog. Kindly link back to the carnival with twitter, stumble and/or from your blog.

Grown-Up Popsicles

Need a little heatwave relief? Try these! If you are unfamiliar with it, prosecco is a white, sparkling wine with a relatively low alcohol content. Really the perfect summer refresher. Sliced strawberries, raspberries and/or blackberries would work well too.

Bellini Pops

3 Cups unsweetened white grape juice

1 Cup prosecco

3 Tbsp lemon juice

6 Peaches, sliced

Combine grape juice, prosecco and lemon juice in a pitcher. Place 1 or 2 peach slices (or strawberry slices) in each popsicle mold. Gently pour liquid over the peaches. Insert your popsicle sticks, and freeze for at least 12hrs.

This is a fun dessert for an outdoor summer dinner party.

Carribean splice ice-blocks

One of the delights of last summer was making ice-cream from scratch. Now I'm not going to share a recipe that you you need to churn for hours and hours (though that's totally worth it!) but this is a quick-fix recipe that you can pour into ice-tups for the kids or ice-cube trays for yourself - fabulous dunked in some cold fresh milk or pineapple juice.

What you'll need

150ml pineapple juice or crushed pineapple

400ml coconut cream

Juice of 1 large or 2 small limes

Ice block moulds (I've use Tupperware Ice Tups, I can seriously never have enough of these!)

Method:

In a jug, mix the juices, coconut cream together, give a good stir.

Pour into moulds

Freeze for at least 6-8 hours

It's really that easy!

You can find more step-by-step cooking from scratch posts and much more at my blog, Frills in the Hills - the fabulous life of our family of five - the fun, the food and the frugality.  Now also tragically on facebook and twitter...

Home Remedy for Fishy Swim Bladder

A couple weeks ago our sucker algae eater fish started floating to the top of the tank - belly up! Not. a. good. sign.

He would swim to the bottom if the other fish came near him but I could tell he was not doing well since he would immediately float back to the top of the tank. It was obvious he was having trouble maintaining his buoyancy. He’s in a tank with two goldfish. Those fellas can sense a sickly fish! They’ve eaten our snail, shell and all, plus the ghost shrimp we had in the tank! Fearing the carnivorous goldfish would eat my sickly sucker fish, I put him in a quarantine tank, even though I had no idea what to do to make him feel better.

After quarantining him and performing some research on the world wide web, I discovered he either had swim bladder or some fatal disease. According to my research, swim bladder is rare in algae eater sucker fish. I decided to treat the little guy for swim bladder anyway since the alternative would be a watery grave via a porcelain coffin!

I read on multiple sites one way to cure swim bladder in other fish species was to use crushed shelled peas but none of my research specifically mentioned how to treat my sucker fish. I had some frozen peas I got from the garden so I tried the only home remedy I could find.

I allowed the peas to thaw completely in the pod. Then, I removed the individual peas from their pods and pressed them between my fingers to shell them. Once the peas are shelled, I used a knife to cut them into teeny pieces. I tried using the back of a spoon to crush them but had no luck. Then I sprinkled the pieces of peas inside the quarantine bowl and let my sucker fish eat on them for a few days. One week later, he’s healthy and no longer floating! YIPPEE – Davey Jone’s Locker will have to wait for our little fishy friend!

I apologize for the lack of photos on this post but we were so wrapped up with getting our fish nursed back to health, I forgot to take any pictures!

Jenn is a stay at home southern mom raising her kids in Northwestern Minnesota with her trucker hubby. She loves to cook, craft and blog. Soon she’ll be going back to school for a new adventure in Graphic Design. You can find recipes, crafts, parenting strategies, budget tips, product reviews and fabulous giveaways on her blog, Frugal Front Porch.

Technorati Tags: swim bladder,sucker fish,algae eater,home remedy

Homemade Oreos

Remember two weeks ago, when I mentioned my camera had broken? Well, it's still broken. My Mom has been letting me borrow hers but unfortunately, she's had to take it back this week through the weekend - they're headed off for an overnight stay and she wanted to be able to take pictures!

Unfortunately there won't be any pictures of my efforts for today's post - I'm hoping there will be some cookies remaining when I can borrow the camera again on Monday - if there are, I'll be sure to update this post with pictures!

And yes, I said cookies - oreo cookies, to be exact. You know you love them!! I never buy storebought cookies, I feel unbelievably guilty if I do because hey, I can make them, right? But Oreos, oh, Oreos. I love them so. Especially the double stuffed ones - oy vey!! I don't even remember the last time I had an Oreo...

But now! Now, we can make our own!! Jen from Beantown Baker posted about her attempt at them after seeing the recipe from Deb over at Smitten Kitchen. Deb, now she got the recipe from a book called Retro Desserts (PS want!) by a certain Wayne Brachman. Whew!

Our opinions? They're a really great substitute. My only complaint is that the cookie itself was a little too soft. And Oreo has a bit of a snap, you know? After having made these, I find out that Jen gave Oreos a try a second time, and had better luck with that cookie recipe combined with this filling recipe. So maybe I'll take her lead and give that a try next!

So, on to the recipe, shall we??

Homemade Oreos
Retro Desserts
Makes approximately 32 sandwich cookies

for the cookies:
1 1/3 cups Dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

for the filling:
1/4 cup room temperature, unsalted butter
1/3 cup shortening
2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

Cookies
Sift together the cocoa powder, flour and salt in a large bowl.

Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, then vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a spatula.

Divide the dough into 2 pieces. Place one piece between 2 lightly floured pieces of parchment paper and roll into a 1/4 inch thick rectangle. Repeat with other piece of dough. Refrigerate both rectangles, covered with parchment sheets, until firm; at least 1 hour or up to several days.

Using a 2 inch round cookie cutter, cut the dough into 64 circles, rerolling scraps once. Place cookies about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets and chill for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 325F.

Bake cookies until they are set and slightly darker around the edges, about 20 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks.

Filling
Place butter and shortening in a bowl and at low speed beat in the sugar and vanilla. With mixer on high, beat another 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

Assembly
Place about a teaspoon's worth of filling into the center of one cookie. Place another equal sized cookie on top of the cream and press lightly so filling reaches edges of cookie. Continue until all cookies are used.

I call Gotta Little Space and Suitable For Consumption home; come say hi!

MIFS #174 - Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes and Strawberry Syrup

Welcome to the carnival! The Make it from Scratch carnival is your chance to share your projects. I hope you join us by linking up at the bottom of this post.

The strawberries in my garden are long done producing. In fact, I mowed them today, but that is a discussion for another post. Just because we are done picking them, does not mean we are done enjoying them. Far from it. For an easy, yet special breakfast these pancakes hit the spot. They would have been just perfect with a dollop of whipped cream, but even with out the whipped cream, we all gobbled them up.

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes (serves 4)
1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
2 TB. melted butter
2 eggs

Mix together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl beat the egg and mix in the buttermilk and melted butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring with a whisk until the batter is smooth. Cook on a hot griddle.

Strawberry Syrup
4 cups frozen berries
3 cups sugar
1/2 cup water

Combine ingredients in a sauce pan. Bring to boil on medium high heat. Simmer for ten minutes, stirring occasionally and serve hot or warm.


LINK UP YOUR PROJECTS!

Carnival Guidelines:

Link up your recipes, crafts, garden projects, yarn creations, home improvement, or other d-i-y posts. Posts about making something, or helpful resources and tips for making things are what we are all about.

Please link directly to the post, not to home page of your blog. Kindly link back to the carnival with twitter, stumble and/or from your blog.